07 | Preliminary Round
"Hello everyone and welcome to the Grand Magic Games preliminary round!" Came the voice of the Grand Magic Games announcer, "You may be wondering how the preliminary round will work this year, aren't ya? Well last time we had this many competitive guilds we had our fun little maze, but the makers have stepped up their game this year! In the preliminary round each guild will choose two people. Now this can't just be any two people they must have intelligence, but also speed, and the ability to fight. These two people be able to get through are moving maze, which is where the intelligence comes in, but they also must have at least taken out two other guilds. Now I know that there are the main guilds, who I'm sure will be participate but there are still those little guilds who want to give it a shot. Right now there are over 70 guilds participating, and only 10 will make it through to the actual Grand Magic Games. For those participating make sure you are back at your rooms at midnight on the dot," Then the announcer's voice cut off.
"Well this will be interesting," Erza said.
"Yah, talk about a challenge. I say we put me and Lucy through, we'll win this thing for sure!" Gray said.
"Yah, not sure how I fee-" Lucy started but Natsu cut her off.
"I get the part about picking Lucy, but ice pervert over here?" Natsu said, gesturing to Gray, who was now scowling immensely at Natsu, "That's just dumb. I say we put me and Lucy through instead!" He said enthusiastically.
"No way!" Gray argued, "You'll screw it up for all of us ya pyro!"
"What did you call me?" Natsu said angrily who was now butting heads with Gray.
Then Erza stepped in between them and pushed their heads back so hard you could hear their necks snap, "Cut it out you two! It's clear that I and Lucy need to be the ones to go!"
"Um," Wendy said in a quiet voice, "I don't mean to be rude, but I could always go!" She said cheerfully.
"Nonsense!" Erza said grandly, "You need to save up your energy Wendy! Lucy and I can take care of this no problem!"
"Oh, ok!" Wendy said, trying to be cheerful. She really wanted to prove to people that she was more than just a little girl.
"Great," Lucy muttered, "Just great,"
Apparently Natsu heard her because he leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry Luce, you'll do great!"
Lucy looked up at Natsu and saw the sincerity in his eyes, "Thanks Natsu," She whispered back softly, their eyes locking, normally no one would've heard them...but Wendy did...and being as innocent as she is, she blushed at the little moment they had.
"So how much time do we have left?" Gray asked, completely unaware of what just happened between Nastu and Lucy.
Erza looked at her watch that she got from...somewhere, "It's 11:30, that means we have 30 minutes until the preliminary round begins,"
"Awesome!" Natsu shouted, "Happy time to grab some grub!"
"Aye-Aye Sir!" Happy shouted.
"You comin Luce?" Natsu asked.
Lucy shrugged an apology, "Maybe later Natsu,"
Lucy thought she saw a flicker of sadness in Natsu's eyes, but it was gone as quick as it was there. She must have just imagined it, "Ok! See ya later then! C'mon Happy!"
"Ok, well I'm going to go look around and see what I can find," Gray said, then wondered off.
"Well I'm going to go find the rest of our guild, they should be here by now," Erza said, then she also started walking away.
"Oh, I'll come with you! Wait up Erza-san!" Wendy said, then started running after the red-head, Carla following behind her.
It was weird, Lucy didn't even know that Carla was there, she was too quiet.
(A:N - Switching to First Person P.O.V.)
Lucy
I guess I'll just find something to do. I probably should've gone with Natsu and Happy, but I really want to get a chance to talk to him...alone.
Ugh! What is wrong with you Lucy! You've been thinking about Natsu way too much lately, you don't want a repeat of what happened before...
When Mira came into the picture. My feelings about Natsu were...confusing. I didn't know whether I liked him or I didn't...ever since that day that I woke up in his arms the day after Master announced the Grand Magic Games...
"Lucy?" I heard a soft raspy deep voice come and turned around to see Natsu behind me.
It was the night after Master had announced the Grand Magic Games, and I was alone, well I was alone, in my apartment getting ready to go to bed before I looked at an old photo of me and the guild. It was back when Wendy and I had just joined; with my back turned to the window I didn't hear Natsu come in...sneaky guy.
"Yes Natsu?" I finally turned around to notice Natsu wasn't in his normal clothes. It was strange because he almost looked like a normal 19 year old. He was wearing gray, baggy sweats and a gray, v-neck t-shirt. Of course, he would never go anywhere without his scarf, so it was wrapped around wrist.
"Do you remember how you woke up yesterday morning?" He asked softly.
Almost immediately I blushed and sort of squeaked out a quiet, "Yes,"
He smiled softly, then asked, "Did you like it?" He asked with a shaking voice almost as if he was afraid of what I would say.
I just nodded, I didn't trust my voice to speak out loud.
At that he looked down and smiled brightly, "So can I do it again?"
I just gave him a confused look, "What do you mean?"
"Can I hold you again? At least why you sleep," He asked.
I was about to say no, but then I remembered of how I slept without any nightmares or any haunting thoughts of Alvarez, so I smiled and said, "Um...sure," I say.
He looked up surprised, "Really?"
"Sure," I said, "But if you invade my fridge in the morning, I'll kick you out before you can say anything!" I threatened.
"Still the same Luce," Natsu said, smiling at the ground.
After that we both climbed into my bed, it was awkward at first, but eventually Natsu had his arms around me and we fell asleep in a comfortable silence. I don't think I could remember ever having a better sleep.
I smiled at the memory, Natsu and I had slept like that whenever we had the chance to. We tried to keep it a secret, but of course Happy knew. In fact, sometimes he came and slept with us. I found it super sweet, it felt like Natsu and I had a little family.
"Lucy!" A voice that sounded very familiar to me. Immediately I turned and smiled brightly at my little family,
"Lushie!" Happy shouted and ran into me hugging me in his usual place, "Natsu got us in trouble again, and we had to wash dishes AGAIN!"
"It wasn't my fault!" Natsu said, smirking.
I just looked at him and smiled.
"C'mon, it's almost time for you and Erza to do the preliminary round," Natsu said, grabbing my hand and tugging me in the direction of where we needed to be.
"Really?" I asked, shocked, "It's already been that long?"
Happy nodded, "Aye sir,"
I was about to point out that I wasn't a sir but...I let out a inward sigh. I couldn't see the point.
"Ok then," I said putting on as much of a serious face as I could, "Let's go," I thought I was pretty cool, but of course Natsu had to ruin it.
"Lucy? Are you okay? You look like you're about to fart, but it's not working." Natsu said, almost looking concerned.
The sad thing was, was that was probably how his poor little brain saw it, me trying to fart...lovely.
Natsu
It was weird, as Lucy, Happy, and I walked towards our room. I couldn't stop looking at Luce. It was like that weird feeling I had, and goodness knows what possessed me, when I asked if I could hold Lucy while she slept. To say I was surprised she said yes would be an understatement, I mean, I thought I would walk out of that apartment dead, or at least with one body part missing. The fact that she actually let me hold her while she was sleeping, and she only threatened to kill me if I ate her food was awesome! Not only that, but then she continued to let me hold her every night? It was hard for me to find anything better than that, well of course, except for food. I've stared to notice a lot of new things about Lucy. Like how her hair shines like pure gold whenever she's in the sun, how whenever she's thinking her face scrunches up in this really adorable way that I find irresistibly cute, or even how she's a total cuddler when she sleeps.
I smile at that thought. Whenever I hold her, she always cuddles up to me as close as she can. Of course, she doesn't know this, and there's no chance that I'm going to tell her. In her sleep, she always cuddles closer to me, even though my arms are around her, and then a small smile appears on her face. Maybe it's because I have heat magic and I'm warm? I have no idea what that's about, all I know is that I like it!
"Hey flamebrain!" a really familiar and incredibly annoying voice came, snapping me out of my thoughts. It was only then that I realized we were now in our hotel room, and Gray, Erza, Wendy, and Carla were all in the room as well.
"What did you call me pervert?" I said angrily at Gray.
"Oh no," Lucy said, stepping between us, "You two are not about to fight right before I go into battle and fight for a spot in the Grand Magic Games, or do I need to be a bit more clear?" She said, glaring at the both of us.
Lucy was the sweetest person I knew on earth, other than Mirajane, but sometimes she could be really mean. It makes you wonder how someone so beautiful could be so mean.
"Oh c'mon Luce!" I said, hanging my arm over her shoulder completely forgetting about Gray, "You know we're just playing!"
Gray gave me this confused look and mouth "We are?" He said this when Lucy was looking away from him, so I easily mouthed back to him, "Never! We'll settle this later ice princess!"
At this he just got angry and I just smiled at him, knowing that he wouldn't risk the wrath of Lucy. Not when she was his best friend, and he look to her as his little sister. Their bond was close, but not closer than the one I had with her.
All of a sudden the room started shaking, and then poof! Erza and Lucy were gone.
"I guess that means the preliminary round has started," Wendy said, hugging Carla close to her.
"I'm sure they'll kick butt!" I said confidently.
"Of course they will!" I heard a voice coming next from me, and then I turned to find not only Master but the rest of our guild.
"Master?!" I said shocked, "When did you get here?"
"About 10 minutes before you did," Said a drunken Cana, a flask in her hand...probably full of beer.
"C'mon guys, the lacrima's up!" Levy said, entering the room and then once again running out to go watch the lacrima.
"Well I'm going to go cheer them on!" Wendy said cheerfully, then walked out of the room. The rest of the guild following her.
Erza
Ok Erza, concentrate. Do not let your guild down.
"You ready Erza?" I looked to my right to find Lucy.
Thank goodness she was here with me. I couldn't get through this maze without her.
"Yes, I'm ready. Are you?" I asked her, I was honestly curious.
She sighed and responded, "Honestly? No, but I have to be, there's no way I'm going to let them down."
I nodded an agreement in response.
"Ok everyone! You know how this works!" Came the announcer's voice, "3, 2, 1, go!"
At that Lucy and I ran as fast as we could. I honestly had no idea where we were going, but Lucy must have because she was leading us in all sorts of different directions. That was until of course we ran into some other guilds, five to be specific a total of 10 people.
Perfect, this will be our chance to take down half of the competition.
I made eye contact with Lucy and she seemed to understand, Lucy was a sister to me, and I had developed a strong bond with her. Almost as strong as the one I had with Gray and Natsu.
"Re-quip!" I shouted, transforming into my heaven's wheel armor. It was a bit of an overkill, considering these weren't very experience mages, but I wanted to get this over with as fast as I could. I quickly took out all ten of them, while Lucy collected their maps and began piecing them together, easily finding a way out of the maze.
"I got it!" Lucy said triumphantly, "C'mon Erza, let's go!"
Lucy and I ran as fast as we could following her makeshift map, and we were doing perfectly and we could see the ending until I saw a familiar face. They were only a couple of feet away from us running towards the ending as well. The two people running: Jellal and Erik.
"Jellal?" I said, feeling ashamed because my voice came out weak. I said it as a whisper so the only one that heard was Erik because of his hearing, but Jellal saw my lips move and he knew I was talking to him. At this point we were neck and neck, and then I heard Lucy.
"Look I know you have a thing for him Erza, but can you save it for later? We've got to get to the finish line." She said, in gasping breaths as she was running.
At that, I recovered my focus and ran just as focused and fast as Lucy, and when I looked behind us I saw Jellal and Erik, only a few feet behind us. I pushed my limits even farther, there was no way I was going to let him beat us.
Jellal
"Oh look at that, we're running against your lover," Erik teased me, yet I could tell that he was afraid, and to be honest who wouldn't be? When you were in the presence of Erza Scarlet, you either rejoiced or cowered in fear.
Erik and I were only a couple feet behind them when I heard Erza, "Re-quip!"
All of a sudden, Erza was now standing in front us blocking our way in her clear heart clothing armor, and she didn't look happy...or nice.
Then Lucy turned around too, "C'mon Erza, let's make quick work of them!"
"Why of course!"
"I summon: Loki and Scorpio!" Lucy shouted, and now two celestial spirits stood in front of us...great.
We didn't even have time to react when Erza headed straight for me, knocking the air out of me. I know she didn't want to hurt me, she just wanted to beat me. Even Erik had a little bit of a difficult time with Lucy and her spirits, almost immediately a whip appeared around his foot, and then a major dust storm occurred blocking their view.
When the dust cleared and he and Erik could see again, Erza and Lucy were gone. Which could only mean they had reached the finish line-
"Give it up for Fairy Tail, coming in 2nd place!" The announcer's voice came, as well as did a whole excited crowd.
"Dangit Jellal!" Erik shouted angrily, while running, "Get your lover under control! You were completely useless against her!"
He and Erik were running as fast as they could, and had reached the finish line, both gasping for breath, "Well you weren't much help either," I muttered back.
"Looks like we have another guild!" The announcer's voice came, "Give it up for Crime Sorciere!" Only a couple cheers came, not that many...great. This year's Grand Magic Games was going to be fun.
A:N
Hey my lil' donuts!
What'd y'all think about this chapter?
I know it's not very creative...like whatsoever (0_0)
But nonetheless I hope you enjoyed it!
Thanks for reading!
Rissa